According to Prince's piece, Cooper was offered other positions at the Globe, but not the one he wanted which was the job of op-ed columnist. I've known Ken for almost 20 years, when I was a press secretary in a Congressional race that he was covering for the Globe. (In that race, he was the reporter least likely to play favorites or make a mistake in his stories.) He was a committed, serious journalist with a no-nonsense approach -- who was not afraid to occasionally ruffle feathers -- who will be missed. This is a loss for the Globe, both diversity-wise and journalistically.